


At the End

by HansoldMySoul



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: For JC because he loves them, Jonhjae, Kinda short and drabbleish and it probably doesn't make much sense, Little bit of Winwin, M/M, Really bad zombie au, enjoy anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 08:00:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8136430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HansoldMySoul/pseuds/HansoldMySoul
Summary: If he's being honest, the world fell apart a long time ago but for Youngho, the world fell apart when Jaehyun disappeared.[Johnjae, Zombie Apocalypse au]





	

It's been four days. Ninety Five hours and a handful of minutes but it feels like a lifetime. He tells himself to hold on an almost non-existent strand of hope but it's thin and his grip is too weak so it keeps slipping through his fingers like a ghost. It's been four days since everything stopped making sense (The world went to shit long before that only now does he feel it) and hope stopped being a possibility and started just being a word with no substance or meaning behind it. 

It's been four days since Youngho last saw Jung Jaehyun and in this fight-or-die world, that's four days too long.

•

Youngho hadn't believed when the reports of the infection had first begun to circulate, it had to have been a childish prank or an exaggeration that the government was using to try and cover up a bigger problem or scare the general public into buying a new product that was on the market. What sort of stupid scare tactic was zombies? Reanimated corpses that retained none of their human qualities and their only goal was to feed and destroy. It wasn't scientifically possible and Youngho wasn't about to accept any bogus reports without hard facts or evidence.

That mentality only lasted as long as it took the infection to spread to Seoul, which it did at a frighteningly rapid pace, because it became hard to be a sceptic when you saw someone you thought you knew eat a living person as if they were roadkill just metres from where you're standing.

Thad had been six months ago and the situation had only gotten infinitely worse from that point.

Youngho met Jung Jaehyun two months after the outbreak, he was on a supply run for the group of survivors that had taken him in when the younger man had held a gun to his head before realising that he wasn't one of them and hastily back them both into an abandoned warehouse.

•

"Are you crazy!?" The stranger whisper yelled, yanking Youngho's jacket until they were safely out of sight of the windows that gave a clear view of the town square. "Going out there alone without a weapon and you had your hands full? Are you completely ingnorant to the situation that we're in right now?" He was clearly angry but also concerned as his eyes kept darting between the window and the heavy wooden door that was the only thing seperating them from the outside. Youngho was torn between being amused and by the fretting and six shades of terrified because he was stuck in an abandoned building with a complete stranger in a less than ideal situation. He settled on terried when one of those things passed too close to the half-boarded windows and stared inside with unseeing eyes before moving on agan.

"Are you alone?" The stranger inquired, tugging them further into the unlit warehouse and watching him intensely as he gave his answer. For his part, Youngho wasn't intimidated by the on-edge behaviour, he'd seen too many people fall victim to paranoia or a twisted sense of self-justice after the fall and the sight only left him numb now but he didn't hesitate to provide the desired answer either because he was in the presence of a stranger and if their was one thing he'd learnt it was to trust no-one; especially not strangers.

"Yeah, a small group of survivors that are camped just outside of Sangnam-dong. I'm on a supply run and for your information, I'm not unarmed." He answered, pulling the small hand dagger from his sleeve to prove his point but not reveling the other meagre, concealed weapons he had on his person because he needed the element of surprise if this confrontation went awry. The stranger regarded him with narrowed eyes but it wasn't difficult to observe the way his eyes still darted around the room, checking dark corners, windows and most regularly, the door.

"Don't go back there," He muttered, checking his pockets for what-Youngho wasn't sure but it appeared to be of mild importance because his expression relaxed when his hand closed around the desired object and he pulled a pocket watch from it's cloth prison. Flicking it open, he pointed to the cracked surface before speaking again, "It's almost nightfall, you'll be at a severe disadvantage aganist those things if you can't see so it's better if you follow me and hunker down for the night. Your choice but i'd hope you aren't stupid enought to try your luck out there." There was genuine worry in his tone behind the condescending and holier-than-thou attitude that he was obviously using as some sort of front.

"I'm Youngho, and you are?" He introduced himself, briefly changing the subject from the suggestion to not return so that he could properly think it through but also because this man was interestng and Youngho didn't often meet interesting people at the end of the world. 

"Jaehyun," The stranger replied, short and simple and it didn't appear as though he desired to elaborate on that.

"Jaehyun," Youngho tested it on his tongue before meeting his eyes. "Lead the way."

That was the last time he saw the small survivor group that had so kindly taken him in because in Jung Jaehyun, he found companionship that he'd thought to be impossible in the current situation and he'd never once thought about leaving his side once he'd followed the handsome man back through those doors.

•

Jaehyun knew that they worked well together, a cohesive unit that was fast an efficient when it came to gathering the few supplies that were still available and that was initially why he'd let Seo Youngho tag along with him despite preferring to work alone and not trust the fickle way in which human emotions could fluctuate and change. It hadn't been a bad idea but it brought on a burdensome sense of responsibility that he hated because looking after yourself was difficult enough when the majority of the human race was out to kill you but looking after someone else was another thing entirely.

He'd seen death, there was absolutely no doubt about that because it was impossible to avoid death in when it literally walked passed them on a daily basis, blind and unseeing. In Jaehyun's opinion, although Youngho was older than him, he was also naive and too quick to believe what anyone told him. In an odd way it made Jaehyun want to protect him as time passed, it also encouraged an growing sense of fear that one day he wouldn't be able to protect the older boy.

"You're thinking too hard again," Youngho commented offhandedly, pressing his index finger to Jaehyun's forehead and attempting to smooth out the wrinkles that formed when his eyebrows were drawn in thought. It was endearing how he often made it his priority to ensure that Jaehyun was doing well even if the worries were unfounded or silly. "One of us has to be the brains of this operation or we'd be toast." He teased back, using the shelf he'd been leaning on to push himself back into a fully standing position. The easy conversation and light atmosphere reminded Jaehyun why he decided to start travelling with someone else in the first place.

He was almost knocked off balance when Youngho grabbed his shoulded and tugged him backwards suddenly, pressing a finger to his lips when he went to complain about the rough manhandling. "Two walkers, storage room, I don't think they've noticed us but be quiet." The words were spoken in a hushed tone, Youngho's lips so close to Jaehyun's ear that he could feel every warm, shallow breath like a furnace against his skin. As distracting as it was, he tried not to focus on the sensation because he'd spotted the creatures inquestion and although they were stumbling about mindlessly, the only exit to the building was behind them and there was little chance that they'd be able to slip passed completely undetected.

That meant one of two things. Either they were going to be doing some running or they were going to be getting blood on their hands and neither option seemed particularly appealing in light of the way rain was pelting the windows in heavy sheets.

"I've got this, I've taken more than two of these things in my time and you've got the supplies so you need to get out of here. Run and meet me back at the warehouse, I won't be far behind." Youngho's instructions were short and concise, leaving no room for argument and although logically, Jaehyun knew that it was the best course of action, it didn't stop him from wanting to protest the seperation.

"Go." He said, this time louder, knowing that the noise would get the attention of the walkers and he'd have no choice but to start moving. A push to his back was the last Jaehyun saw of Youngho before he hightailed it out of the department store, staring stoutly forward because he knew looking back would only make him falter.

He never made it to the warehouse.

.

Youngho had been so sure that his plan was flawless. The walkers had been predictably easy to deal with and the route back to their safe house had been clear of opposition but something had gone wrong along the way because when he arrived back there had been absolutely no sign of Jaehyun. He'd waited, hoping beyond hope that the younger boy had somehow been sidetracked and was just running late but minutes turned into hours and the light faded, giving way to the dusky tones of night and the growing possibility that something had gone terribly wrong.

Hours turned to days but Youngho didn't move from the sercure facility, unwilling to vacate the area in case Jaehyun did eventually make his way back but the heavy metal door never moved, save for the occassional rattle of an overly-curious walker or the hollow creaking of the wind.

Four days passed and Jung Jaehyun didn't return. Not a sound nor a sight of him. Like he never existed but Youngho knew, knew that he was alive out there beause he wouldn't just up and die like that. After all, he'd always been the one telling Youngho to be careful because he knew what he was doing and Youngho was just an inexperienced, misguided adult who didn't want to believe the horrors of the world even when they were placed on a silver platter and placed in his hands.

The door rattled like it often did and Youngho watched dispassionately, waiting for the unwelcome visitor to lose interest and walk away but the rattling didn't cease, instead becoming more insistant until he heard the heavy clunk of the concealed deadbolt sliding out of place. That immediatly snapped him to attention, Youngho shot to his feet and stumbled back a few steps, never once taking his eyes off the door which had begun to inch open slowly as though the person on the other side had underestimated the amount of strength required to open it.

From the shadows, he watched as a tall male took cautious steps into the room, eyes narrowing as he tried to make out as much as he could in the limited light and hand unconsciously pushing the door closedbehind him, something that Youngho was silently grateful for.

"What do you want?" He asked, still out of sight and watching closely as the tall, blond male tried to find the source of the voice.

"You are Youngho?" He finally replied, stumbling over the simple words, his thick accent making the question difficult to understand and it was clear that he wasn't native to Korea though Youngho couldn't place where the accent came from.

"Who are you? How do you know that name?" He fired back, quick and harsh but unwilling to fall victim to a stranger or let that said stranger leave without finding out where he got his information.

There was sigh and the man seemed to take a moment to respond, whether he was having trouble understanding the questions or was just unwilling to answer, Youngho was unsure. "I am Si-cheng , You are Youngho?" He asked again while answering the question.

When he didn't answer, Sicheng sighed again before making a step to walk towards him. "Jae-Hyung said you would be like this. You would not trust but you must listen."

Youngho stepped out of the shadows immediatly upon hearing the familiar name, watching a smirk flash acros Sicheng's face at his lightning reaction before becoming frustrated again. "Jaehyun? You know where he is? Is he okay?" Sicheng held up a hand to halt the quickfire questioning as he tried to answer some of the inquiries.

"He- Hyung is fine. He was injured but not by one of those things but he has not been able to be in contact because he cannot travel." The words were slow and stilted but Youngho had never been so relieved to hear someone say something because Jaehyun was alive.

"You are Youngho? You will come with me to go to Hyung." He'd never wanted to hug someone so much in his life and that was saying something considering Sicheng was a perfect stranger and there was absolutely no saying that he should be trusting a word he said. He was going to anyway because Jaehyun was alive and he didn't want to belive any other alternative.

"Lead the way," He muttered, and damn did those words feel familiar but he'd think about that more after he'd been reunited with the only person he needed for this hell-on-earth to be worth fighting through.

Seo Youngho may have only known Jung Jaehyun for a handful of months but he could no longer picture his life without him and that was a frightening thought but he wouldn't even consider the alternative

**Author's Note:**

> The usual, if you like my drivel then please leave me a Comment or some Kudos, it's always greatly appreciated!~
> 
> I hope you enjoyed JC!


End file.
